Apple farmers fly chopper over orchard to fight frost

Frost warning was in effect for much of eastern Ontario

The threat of frost has forced apple growers near Kemptville, Ont., to take the unusual step of flying a helicopter over their orchard to keep their trees warm.

The temperature in the Ottawa region dropped to -2 degrees Celsius at about 3 a.m. early Tuesday morning and a frost warning remained in effect Tuesday.

Phil Lyall of Mountain Orchards near Kemptville said while an orchard might lose only ten percent of its apples when temperatures drop to zero degrees Celsius, a night at minus two can kill 90 per cent of the crop.

"The MacIntosh, they're just about in full bloom, some of them already are, and that puts them at their most susceptible stage right now," Lyall said.